by Technomad
After the Christmas holidays, school life resumed. Classes went on, and so did extra-curricular projects, including the one to discredit Gilderoy Lockhart.
Once she had been brought on board, Hermione brought her ferocious intelligence and gift for research to bear, systematizing a lot of the raw data the boys had collected. The idea that she had been bamboozled by a pretty smile and a bunch of falsified books seemed to infuriate her.
"She's taking this awfully personally," remarked Dudley to Ron, watching Hermione methodically correlating data from Lockhart's books, comparing it with other sources on some of the same menaces that Lockhart claimed to have put an end to.
"She's brilliant. Brilliant, scary, and one-of-a-kind." Ron paused as Hermione, who had overheard him, looked up and gave him a brilliant smile. When she turned back to her books, Ron turned to Dudley, who was giving him a knowing look. Ron had an expression on his face like he'd just taken an electric shock.
"Mate," Dudley murmured, "I think you may have made a conquest." He grinned a very male grin. "I know the feeling. There's nothing like it in the world, is there?"
"Yeah," muttered Ron, who was still looking a bit dazed. As they moved away, though, he began to smile.
There was another dueling tournament scheduled, and both Gilderoy's Gladiators and Flitwick's Furies were busily practicing, working out new and unexpected moves to use on their opponents.
"The problem with planning everything, you see, is that the enemy has plans too," said Flitwick one evening at the end of a practice session. "And those plans do not include handing you the victory on a plate."
"So you're saying that overplanning is as bad as not being prepared?" asked Harry. This struck him as slightly blasphemous; Balalaika had always emphasized the importance of preparation before a battle.
"Try to have contingency plans, but don't be so attached to them as to stick to them in situations where they're plainly not working. Above all, be flexible and if you spot a weakness in the other side, take full advantage of it." Harry and Dudley nodded to each other. This struck them as eminently sensible.
The tournament was held, as the previous one had been, in the Great Hall. This time the entire Wizarding press had sent representatives. Harry smiled to see Luna running to embrace her father, who was wearing some obscenely garish robes and a snap-brim fedora with a "Press" card stuck in the hatband.
When Luna rejoined her friends, she was burbling with excitement. "Daddy's so happy to see me in this! He's really proud and pleased that I did so well last time around!" Suddenly it was like a cloud had crossed the sun. "I hope I do as well this time, too. I wouldn't want to have Daddy ashamed of me!"
"I don't think your Daddy would ever be ashamed of you, Luna," Dudley reassured the blonde. She looked up at Dudley, her big silvery eyes full of love and utter trust, before reaching out to embrace him, resting her head on his chest. Dudley wrapped her in his arms and held her close, his eyes daring anybody to say one word against it. Nobody did, though. The boys all smiled; they had collectively adopted the wispy first-year as a surrogate little sister, and they quietly looked out for her welfare.
The strains of Wagner reached in where the team was waiting, and Harry muttered: "Showtime, everybody!" as they marched out into the Great Hall, to the sound of loud cheering from the spectators. Harry felt a little like what he imagined a professional athlete would feel like, and he found that he liked the feeling. Out here, he wasn't "The Boy Who Lived," or any great celebrity. Out on the dueling pitch, it was down to his skill and speed against his opponent.
Professor Dumbledore was presiding again, but this time, Cornelius Fudge was nowhere to be seen, and neither was the scarred Auror, Alastor Moody. The other judges were the same as last time, and as Harry lined up with the others to salute them, he would have sworn that the girl with the strangely-colored hair gave him a distinct wink.
When the tournament was finally over, Flitwick's Furies staggered off to their respective common rooms, along with Gilderoy's Gladiators. The tournament had been a close-run thing this time, and the outcome had been in doubt up to the very last duel.
"Man alive, I'm sleepy!" groaned Ron. Daphne Greengrass, his opponent, had hit him with a wickedly strong Morpheus Charm, and his panicked Shield Charm had not protected him as thoroughly as it would have had he been less rattled. "Ginny did well, though." Even through his weariness, his pride in his baby sister shone through, lighting him up from within like a jack-o-lantern.
"You won't have to worry about her, at least," Dudley reassured Ron, patting his friend on the shoulder. "She really wiped the floor with Harper! Poor Harper…he was in 'way over his head! We'll have to step up his training, I think." Dudley shook his head.
"Yeah," said Harry. He had faced off with Zach Smith, and the Hufflepuff had turned out to be a diabolically ingenious opponent, using spells in ways that Harry had never thought of.
The door to the Slytherin common room opened, and Hermione Granger stepped in, her head high and pride in her eyes. She had squared off against Anthony Goldstein of Ravenclaw, and had systematically clobbered him; when the judges had ruled that the duel was over, it was as much out of mercy as anything else. "Well, boys, I'm back. Getting ready for the post-mortems?"
"Poor Anthony's lucky he doesn't need a real post-mortem! You stomped him good!" Draco said, his tone full of respect. Harry had to agree; he had seldom seen Hermione in finer fighting form. He was privately quite glad that he had not been the target of her fury.
"You got something against Goldstein?" asked Ron, solicitously. "Did he say something mean to you? Did he do something mean to you?" Goldstein was one of the first non-Slytherins to join Flitwick's Furies, and his teammates had learned to respect his intelligence and versatility.
Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously. "That damn Eagle was bragging about how many OWLs and NEWTs his House scores, and went out of his way to sneer at us," she hissed. "He was talking with some of his friends in the library, and didn't see me there in the stacks."
"Oh." At that, everybody shut up. In Slytherin, it was accepted practice to take advantage of every bit of information, and how one came by such information was of no importance. "He got a bit overweening, did he?"
"Yes, he did! I nearly came charging out to confront him, but then I remembered the dueling contest, and held my peace. I was hoping to square off with him, and I guess I taught him to respect the green-and-white, didn't I just?"
"You did that," said Ron, putting his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "You may be on the other team, but in here, we're all Snakes together, and let me tell you, I was really proud of you!" Hermione beamed, and leaned closer to Ron, who held her a little more tightly. Harry fought to suppress a smile.
Ron's new robes had done a lot for his self-image, it seemed. He had always been unhappy about his family's relative poverty, and when group pictures were taken, made sure to stand well in the back so that only his head was visible above his friends' shoulders.
Percy had commented very approvingly on Ron's gift. Meeting the boys from Roanapur in a corridor, he said: "I'd like to thank you for what you did for my little brother Ron. He does get sick of hand-me-downs; we had some very lean years when he was little and even food was a little scarce."
"That would explain why he wolfs his food so frantically," said Harry, as Dudley nodded. They had both seen people in Roanapur with poverty in their pasts who would leap on any food offered them, even if they were well-fed and secure. Early deprivation left lasting habits that took a great deal of time and effort to delete.
"That, and having to share a table with Fred and George." Percy's expression was rather grim. "Mum's health was bad for quite a while after she had Ginny, and while she was unable to eat with us, the twins took to grabbing Ron's food away from him. The twins were running absolutely wild, and I couldn't keep them under control at all. Dad wasn't around much then; he had a lot of stuff he had to do at all hours. Ron was nearly starved, poor thing, before Mrs. Lovegood stepped in to help out. She was a wonderful lady, and she may have saved Ron's life."
"Was she like Luna?" asked Dudley curiously.
"Very like. I'm glad to see you boys have taken Luna under your wings. After her mother died, her father got to be stranger and stranger, and while Mum was always glad to have her, and Ginny welcomed her when she could come, her Dad would insist on dragging her with him all over the place."
"She's said that after her Mummy died, she and her Daddy were all they had. From things she's said, she had to more-or-less step up to the plate and take care of things in their home, since her Daddy wouldn't." Dudley looked troubled. "No nine-year-old should have to do that, should they?"
"So they shouldn't," Percy agreed. "And I'm very glad that you're so concerned for her well-being. You do realize that Bill, Charlie and I would be most displeased if you ever abused her trust, don't you?" The room's temperature seemed to drop precipitously, and Percy's expression was suddenly very like a Roanapur boss delivering a warning. His voice was soft and gentle, but there was a distinct edge to it, and Harry remembered that his brothers worked with dragons and goblins, neither of which was the safest thing to do in the world.
"You needn't worry about us, Percy. Dudley'd never harm Luna, and neither would I. Slytherin takes a dim view of House members who hurt other Slytherins." And that was nothing but the simple truth. Snape would come down on anybody who deliberately hurt another Slytherin like a ton of bricks, and that would be a preliminary to what the sixth- and seventh-years would likely do. Slytherin saw itself as apart from the other Houses, and able, at seventh-and-last, to only depend on itself. Traitors and backbiters in the ranks were dealt with swiftly and severely.
Not to mention what the girls would do to anybody who harmed one of their number. They had a solidarity among themselves that men didn't seem to. And then there would be having to face Aunt Petunia and Balalaika…no. Harry shrank from that vision. "You would not like the harbor bottom; you meet the nastiest people there," echoed in his mind, in Balalaika's soft contralto with its slight Russian accent.
"We were both brought up to be gentlemen," Harry assured Percy, as Dudley nodded agreement.
Percy smiled broadly. "Good. Then I needn't worry about my little sister, either!" Just then, a girl's voice called, and Percy turned. "I'll be with you in a minute, Penny!" he answered, and then he was gone.
Dudley and Harry looked at each other. "What was that about Ginny, Harry?" asked Dudley.
Harry spread his hands and shrugged. "Beats the daylights out of me, Dudley. I'd guess he wants us to keep an eye on her and keep her safe. What else could he mean?" The bell rang to signal dinner. "Come on! Let's race to the Great Hall!" Laughing and shouting, the cousins ran down the corridor, happy to be alive, together, magical and at Hogwarts.
However, things were by no means perfect. In the middle of the meal, Filch burst in and whispereed in Dumbledore's ear. The headmaster paled, and then stood. "I have an announcement to make," he intoned, as conversation went silent. "I regret to announce that Mr. Percy Weasley and Miss Penny Clearwater have fallen victim to petrification." Ron went white at the news, and over at the Gryffindor table, Harry was interested to note that both twins looked stricken.
The headmaster went on: "They have been removed to the infirmary, and Madame Pomfrey assures me that when the current crop of mandrakes are ready to be harvested, she will be able to revive them and all the other unfortunates who have been petrified. That is all." He sat back down, and after a minute or two, conversation resumed.
Hermione leaned closer and muttered: "I've come up with some things you need to know. Meet me in the common room after dinner." Harry, Dudley, Ron, Ginny and Luna all nodded. Then they tucked back into their delicious food. Watching Ron stuff himself frantically, Harry felt a twinge of pity. He had never been stinted and never had to go short, much less worry about his food being stolen from him!
END Chapter 35
